Today, Spanish President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announced in a press conference that legislative elections in Spain will be anticipated to next November 20th, not March 2012.

“The government has largely covered the objectives of the second part of the legislature,” said Zapatero. “In a context that’s still complicated, the economy shows positive signs,” said the chief minister at the press conference. “The foundations for recovery have been settled,” Zapatero added despite Spain’s unemployment rate is 20.89%.

Zapatero, who has been in charge since March 2004, announced in April 2010 that he would not run for president a third time.

Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, a former interior minister and number two in government, was nominated for the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) to confront the leader of Partido Popular (PP), Mariano Rajoy, who has been announced as the winner by opinion polls.